Gotham Vampire Hunts: Part 1: The Axis of Worlds
by MBosco
Summary: Blade is a vampire hunter, looking for a vampire priest. Batman is the caped crusader, battling Gotham City's underworld with his two companions Robin and Nightwing.  Suddenly, Blade is sent to Gotham to aide the Dark Knight in a growing nightmare...
1. Chapter 1

Eric Brooks, otherwise known as Blade, was a half vampire half human who dedicated his life to the death of all vampires. He has all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses and his ability to walk in the sun has arisen to his name, the Daywalker. Using silver, garlic, and a silver edged sword, Blade pursues his pray with extreme prejudice.

Blade walked into a the nightclub where he knew almost a hundred vampires were congregating. He allowed himself a small smile, allowing his fangs to show. Two guards at the inner door saw him and drew guns on him. Before their weapons even cleared their holsters, Blade threw two silver stakes. They zipped through the air and buried themselves in the guards. In seconds, they were reduced to ashes and dust, still smoldering at the door. The Daywalker retrieved his weapons and pushed the doors inward. Heavy beat music mingled with the sound of stomping feet and the chatter of voices and the musky smell of many bodies in an enclosed space. As he walked in, a spotlight fell on him and the all noise ceased. After several moments, the silence was broken by Blades deep voice calling out over the crowd, "Where is Draconis the priest?"

He was met by silence which stretched for minutes. Then, all at once, the host of vampires bared their fangs and talons and began screaming for his corps. Blade simply smiled and pulled out two of his glaives. They were triple bladed throwing weapons that returned to the wielder much like boomerangs. With skillful movements, Blade threw the weapons, cutting through vampires like a blade through grass. Blade caught them, returned them to their place and drew his sword and a long stake. The masses surged forward, wielding knives and clubs in a futile attempt to kill their hated enemy - the Daywalker. Blade took them two, three or four at a time, using his sword and stake to end their lives and turn them to piles of ash and dust. Before too long, the numbers of attackers were thinning and the vampires realized that they were in dire straights. They scattered, running for every exit except the one the Blade stood at. He sheathed his sword and stake and was about to go for his customized hand gun armed with silver hollow point bullets with garlic essence and silver nitrate when a white light suddenly flashed around him. Within the blink of an eye, Blade found himself in a courtyard that he was utterly unfamiliar with. All around him were fountains of water and at the end of the courtyard stood a dais with a stunning white marble thrown. On the thrown sat massive being. "Welcome, Eric Brooks. Blade the Daywalker you have been summoned to the Axis of Worlds in order to aide another dimension in their war against vampires."

Blade was weary as he approached the thrown. As he did, he notice three doors behind the dais. Motion towards them with his head, Blade said, "Where do those doors lead?"

The strange being answered, "They lead to alternate dimensions. Through the first, you are within walking distance to the Gates of Heaven. Through the second, you fall into Hell. The third leads to the Axis of Time. All three are forbidden to all save the Holy One. Now, step into that fountain there, with the circle and stars emblem on it. There you will be sent to the world you need to help."

Blade glanced over and saw it. After a moment, he said, "My own world has a huge vampire infestation. Why would go to another to try and help them in another endless war?"

The being stood and stepped off the dais saying, "The problem in the other world is not nearly as extensive as yours. If you are sent there now, you may be able to save it. Now go, lest the world you must go to because far worse off than the world you come from." Blade nodded his head and stepped into the pool.

Batman, Robin and Nightwing pursued the three thugs through the back streets and alleys of Gotham city in the hopes of finding out who this new powerful villain was. After nearly an hour of hard pursuit, they found themselves looking down on the door to a very popular night club in the southern Gotham city area. Looking around, Batman said, "Robin, go and get in through the fire escape so they can't get away through there. Nightwing, check those windows up top. We can work our way inward."

The two others leapt out and the Dark Knight leapt and glided down, slamming hard into the front door and rolling. The four bouncers came at him with chains and clubs. Within a few moments, they were unconscious, draped over chairs and a table. Moving silently, Batman slipped in behind and into the shadows. As he watched the crowd, he noticed several mob bosses talking to the three goons that he and his companions were chasing. The mobsters just shook their heads and began to gather their things. Thinking fast, Batman took stock of all the guards and muscle that were in the building. Quickly, he through a smoke grenade and leapt in after it. As he did, he saw both Nightwing and Robin moving in from different directions, fighting thugs and guards as they went. Batman the group he saw nearest to the bosses. They were mostly just tough looking guys who mostly did their job through intimidation though some were professionals. Both went down before the Dark Knight. Before long, the thugs and guards and some who just wanted a piece of the action were down. Batman, Robin and Nightwing hemmed in on the mob bosses, three of them to be exact. They were part of new Falconii Cartel and Marcus Falconii stood before Batman with all the confidence of a man who knew he was about to win. Before he could even be asked a question, the boss said, "You're a dead freak, Batman. You have no clue who you are up against this time."

Batman grabbed him by his custom two thousand dollar suit and lifted him off the ground, rasping out, "I've fought the mob before and brought them to their knees. What makes you think I won't be able to again?"

Marcus just laughed at his interrogator. "The mob is the least of your worries, Batman. The guys we work for - their YOUR worst nightmare. They'll take you apart like a big, fat piece of chicken fresh off the fryer."

Batman was about to ask when a chuckle came from the back towards the offices of the building. Three more men stood there. Batman dropped Marcus and faced them, saying, "I'm going to give you three a break and let you go, for now. Take this opportunity. You may never get another one."

As he said this, he noticed something about the three individuals. They stood as still as statues and had glowing pale eyes. Not only that, their very presence seemed to make the room colder. Robin and Nightwing were by Batman's side in an instance. After a few moments, the three men moved in on the trio of heroes. Robin extended his staff and moved in saying, "The man warned you. Now pay the price."

He was mere moments away from striking one of them when they where just not there an instant later. Suddenly, a blow sent Robin out onto the dance floor. Immediately, the other two moved into action. Batman took a tall fellow with red hair. As he got close to him, the Dark Knight noticed the strange mans fangs. The creature swung at him with a hiss. When Batman blocked the blow, it felt as though he were blocking a metal baseball bat swung by a pro MLB player. His armored suit took most of the blow or his arm would have broken like a twig. He retaliated with an uppercut, but the creature was faster than humanly possible, moving out of the way and kicking Batman in the chest. He flew backwards, slamming onto his back hard and loosing his breath. He hopped up and pulled out two batterangs, throwing them with blinding speed at the man. Even with seemingly superhuman speed, the creature could not avoid them and they took him in the shoulders and knocked him to the ground. With a grunt of satisfaction, he leapt over to help Robin, he was pinned against the wall by his throat. The creature looked as though he were about to bite the young man's throat till Batman threw a flying kick, knocking the creature off of him. Robin dropped to his knees, gasping and coughing. Batman helped him up and was suddenly attacked from behind by the one he thought he had brought down with his batterangs. It pulled the second one out of its shoulder as if it didn't feel a thing and hiss, "Do you really think that these little things would do anything against a vampire, Batman?"

With that, he hurled Batman across the dance floor and into the bar. As he stood, Nightwing landed on his side next to him, out cold. Robin leapt and stood beside his mentor, true fear in his eyes. The three monsters moved in on them with fangs bared in feral grins as the redheaded one said, "It looks like we will have dinner and three new members of our fine host, my brothers."

Batman readied himself to fight to the death when he saw a shadow streak out from the darkness and hit the redhead like a bolt of lightning. The creature screamed as a silver object seemed to just grow out of his neck. Within moments, the creature disintegrated into a pile of ashes and dust. The other two looked shocked then turned their attention to the new threat. Standing there was a tall, black figure. He was dark skinned, dark haired and wore dark glasses and a long black trench coat. With a lightning fast motion, he pulled out a silver steak and began to fight the other to vampires, who attacked him with chairs, broken table legs or anything else they could find. Before long, another one screamed with a silver stake through his heart. The last one backed off, terrified. The dark man looked down at him and frowned. From behind his back, he pulled a long silver-edged sword. Faster than vision, he swung the sword and sheathed it, making Batman wonder if he had ever actually held a sword. The vampire was frozen for a moment then suddenly fell over, its body turning to ash as its head rolled on the floor. Turning to the three heroes, the dark man said, "Was he bitten?"

Batman knelt down and looked, seeing no marks on Nightwings neck. He looked up and shook his dead. "Good." the dark man said, "Means I don't have to stake him too. My name is Blade but where I come from, they call me the Daywalker."

Robin kept his staff at the ready in case it was needed against this newcomer and asked, "Why do they call you that?"

Blade smiled, revealing a pair of sharp fangs and saying, "Because I am the only existing person on earth with vampire blood can walk in the sun without turning into a pile of ashes. I'm half vampire and half human. My mother was bitten less than an hour before my birth."

Batman said, "Why should we believe any of this…Blade?" The Daywalker removed his glasses, revealing shining green eyes and said, "Look at what just happened here. You were attacked by three guys who were mopping this dance floor with you, something I'm betting you're not used to, until I show up. I shove silver stakes into them and cut of one guys head and they turn to ash. They had fangs and were much faster and stronger than you. What other proof do you need that these guys at least aren't your everyday wackjobs?"

Batman pondered it and said, "I see. Would you come with us? I believe we should discuss this in our cave." Blade smiled, flashing his fangs again and even getting a shudder from Robin. "You three live in a cave?"

"Yes." Batman said, "The Batcave."


	2. Chapter 2: Enemy Revealed

Blade paid attention to every minute detail of his surroundings. It really was a cave, and it were huge. He could hear the bats far above their heads fluttering and flitting back and forth and could even pick up the screeched they used to navigate with. In front of him, his new colleagues continued to look at him blankly through their masks, though he could tell they were very curious about him. Finally, Batman said, "I would like to know a bit more about you, Blade. Where did you come from? How did you get the way you are? Why are you here?" Blade took off his shades and placed them in a pocket inside his long, black trench coat. "My name is Eric Brooks. My mother lived in New York City when she was bitten by a vampire named Decon Frost. While she was dying, she was also in labor with me. Just before she passed away, the doctors did a emergency c-section to save me. Because of this, I was born a vampire/human hybrid with all of their strengths and none of there weaknesses. After over twenty years, I finally caught up with Decon Frost and killed him. Now, I vampires to protect humans and before long they began giving names like Blade and Daywalker and Dampier." He was silent for a few minutes and Batman said, "Yes. I can relate to finding the one who killed my mother. My parents were killed outside of the opera house and I wanted revenge for the longest time before it was taken from me by the mob." Blade nodded and continued where he left off. "I was hunting down a unique vampire named Draconis when I was found my self in the Axis of Worlds - a strange place with lots of fountains. This big guy told me to come here and help you before your vampire problem became worse than mine." Again, silence reined. Finally, Batman said, "So you are a half vampire from another world that has a massive vampire problem yet you came here, through an extra-dimensional portal to help us with ours?" Blade nodded put his shades back on and smiled, showing his fangs. "Yup, that's about the way of it." This caused the other two heroes to let out chuckles of disbelief. Blade pulled out what looked like a syringe system and a blue vial, speaking as he did. "If you want to take a blood sample, be my guest. But after tonight, you know that something is out there that can take you guys and your weapons and brush them off like they aren't jack. I'm offering my help. Take it or leave it." Robin motioned to the syringe. "What's that? You a drug addict?" Blade looked at him. "It's a serum that keeps the vampire thirst at bay so that I don't feed on humans." Nightwing shook his head. "This is a lot to swallow, man. Boss, Robin we should talk about this." The other two nodded and they all began to walk towards what looked like an elevator. Before he entered, Batman said, "Make yourself as comfortable as you can. We won't be to long. By the way, you trust me your real name so let me share mine with you. I'm Bruce Wayne. Thank you for assisting us, Eric." Blade inclined his head and injected himself with the serum.

Up inside the Wayne Mansion study, the three costumed heroes discussed their guest and Bruce's two wards were not very happy. Robin, whose real name was Jason Todd said, "I don't like this, Bruce. We don't know anything about this guy. He seems a little nuts to me and I think those were drugs he was using, not some weird serum." Nightwing, whose real name was Richard 'Dick' Grayson, agreed, "I agree with Jase on this one, Bossman. At the very least we should be more careful. I mean what the heck were you thinking, giving him your real name?" Bruce took off his cowl and scratched his head. "He trusted us with his name. Anyhow, I didn't give him yours. That is up to you. Now I am going to have Fox come over and get samples of both his blood and that serum to make sure what he said was true. But we need to think about this, gentlemen: We just got our butts handed to us by three normal looking guys when we can normally fight through a hundred. We all know that they were not normal humans and we also know that Blade found a way to stop them, even if it was to kill them." They were all silent and Dick said, "The enemy of our enemy is our friend and if what he says is true about vampires, we will need his help. But be careful, Bruce. He even said he suffers from the thirst too and he may turn on us if he really is part vampire." Suddenly, a knock was heard at the study door and Alfred, the aging butler walked in. "Master Bruce I was wondering if our guest will be needing anything. And do you need anything?" Bruce smiled at his oldest friend and caretaker. "Yes prepare supper for us, please. But our guest will be fine for now. Thank you Alfred." The old gentleman smiled and said, "Very good, sir."

Blade had began to look around inside the cave. They arrived in a very unusual vehicle, somewhere between a humvee and a tank, through a waterfall into this cave. As he looked around, he found many interesting things. There was what seemed to be an armory with extra suites, batterangs, gas powered guns and cartridges that fired grappling hooks, explosives of some kind and other interesting equipment were all evident. One thing he noticed though is that, aside from the batterangs and explosives, they weren't armed with any lethal weapons. He continued to look around and found a training area, a whole garage full of other vehicles and a laboratory that made his own at home look like a quickly thrown up field lab. After nearly an hour, Batman and his two companions came back with a black man. Batman said, "Blade, meet Lucius Fox. He is our scientific expert and would like to take samples of both your blood and your serum if that is okay." Blade nodded and took off his heavy coat and body armor and rolled up the sleeves of the red shirt underneath. Fox opened up a medical case and pulled out an empty syringe and needle. He drew the blood and took it and a vial of serum over to the lab center. They waited in silence for some time before Fox pushed away from the desk and said, "Well two things I can tell you for sure. One is that your blood is not normal. The second thing is that the serum is not drugs. It seems to be a retro virus of some sort. May I ask how long you have to go before you take another dose?" Blade shrugged his powerful shoulders and said, "About four or five days at latest though earlier is better." Fox scratched his chin and said, "If you will permit me to take a little more of your blood then perhaps I can make a serum that will last longer if not be permanent." Blade smiled, showing his gleaming white fangs and saying, "Take all you want though I doubt you will do any better. Nothing personal but I have had several brilliant minds tell me that that was as good as I would get." Fox just smiled and said, "I will take it a personal challenge to make a better one then, Blade." He walked over to the station and began to work as Blade put his body armor and coat back on and then turned to his three allies. "So we should start hunting tonight. How does sundown sound to you gentlemen?" The three looked at each other and Bruce said, "Aren't they strongest at night? Wouldn't daylight be best?" Blade shook his head and said, "You won't find them during the day. They will lying low enough that even you won't be able to find them. At night they may be strong andey will be out in force, adding to their numbers and feeding. Not only that…" and at this, Blade smiled real big, "…I need to bring you up to speed on vampire killing. Otherwise you won't last. I also need a certain amount of silver and garlic. I also saw that you have small UV irradiator over their. I'll need that too. When I'm done educating you, I suggest you get sleep while I make some weapons."

The next several hours were spent in acquiring the needed resources. Blade taught them about vampire strengths and weaknesses and how to use one and avoid the other. He told them that killing them was the only way to stop them. That there was no cure and death was the only way to give them their humanity back. When they were done, the three heroes went to get some rest while Blade made silver batterangs and more silver bullets, stakes and glaives. He also made up some bladed knuckles made of silver. After all that, he also went and got a little bit of rest. Even the Daywalker needs his sleep even if it is less than most humans.

The young vampire stole quickly through the dark streets, avoiding the street lights and taking as many back allies as possible in hopes of avoiding contact with the Dark Knight. He had to get to the safe house where the others were. They would be safer in numbers he thought. After what seemed like hours, he found the building and went inside. He expected to hear music and the screams of those who were being fed on. What he did not expect was the silver batterang that thudded into his chest, snuffing him out like dust on the wind. Batman stumped through the piles of ash the covered the floor and picked it back up. Blade held the last vampire by its throat, asking it for the third time, "Who leads you scum? Who is your elder or lord or whatever?" Though the vampire was obviously frightened, it still laughed in the Daywalkers face. "You have no idea who you are dealing with, human. You all think that you can stop HIM. He will tear you apart with his bare hands." He continued to laugh until Blade shoved a stake into his thigh, causing it great pain. Slowly, he asked again, "Who. Is. HE?" The creature spat through gritted fangs, "Who else would it be but Dracula." Silence reigned. Then Blade pulled out the stake and stabbed it through the vampires heart. He turned to his three companions, he face grim underneath the shades he always ware. Robin chuckled. "Did that walking ash heap really just say Dracula. Like 'I'm going to suck your blood' Dracula?" he asked in a passable imitation. Blade scratched his chin, saying "Yes he did, kid. And this is no joking matter. I thought Vlad Dracula was a monster who was contained to my world but apparently he got here before I did. This makes things even more difficult." Batman shot a look at Robin before walking up to Blade. "Well what is the problem? You sound like you've faced him before so beating him won't be that hard, right?" Blade shook his head, saying. "It isn't that simple, Batman. Every time I kill him, he manages to reanimate, either by a vampire who finds him or by some idiot human who thinks that raising the son of Satan is a good idea. The last time he woke up, neither happened, which means that there is some way that he can just reanimate on his own or some unknown evil can do it for him." After he said that, no one else had anything to say. Blade looked at the newest pile of ash and cursed. "Well, now I wish I hadn't killed him yet. I need to find another one. Common lets go." They left the building and continued their hunt for vampires. Blade was used to being able to find them quickly but it ended up taking hours because this universe did not have anywhere near as many. Finally, they found another safe house and busted right on in. It happened fast as Blade, Batman, Robin and Nightwing turned one vampire after another into smoking piles of ash and dust. Within minutes, Blade had another against the wall while Robin and Nightwing pinned another down. Blade placed the tip of his sword against its thigh. "Now you are gonna answer my questions, got it ash heap?" the tried to spit but its mouth was so dry it only made the noise. Blade drove the tip of his sword clean through the creatures leg. It screamed in agony. "Where is Dracula, suckhead?" before the vampire could answer, a laugh came from a balcony above them. Blade recognized the laugh instantly. Pulling out his blade, he decapitated the vampire and went around to where he could get a view of his enemy. "Ah. Daywalker. I never thought I would see you here. Perhaps God does have a sense of humor." Blade bared his fangs and said, "You know nothing of God, monster. Come down and lets get this over with." But Dracula just laughed and said, "Not now, old friend. I will see you again before long and we will settle then. I have work to do first." With that, he stepped away from the balcony railing. Swiftly, Blade leapt the full story and a half onto the balcony and gave chase. He could see the shadowy figure ahead of him, running towards a window. With a laugh, it leapt through the glass and transformed into a great bat-like creature and flew quickly away. Blade snarled in frustration and turned away from the window. Batman and the others were not far behind him. "He got away." said Robin. Nightwing scratched his head and said, "Well what do we do now? I mean we have to start from square one all over again." Blade shook his head, saying "No. His plans have always been and will always be the same: build an empire and subjugate mankind with it, ruling through terror and with an army of vampires like him yet not nearly as powerful. We need to get his attention, show him that while we are here, he is not going to get what he wants." Batman began to pace as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. All four began to brood on the issue. Finally, Robin said, "Well we can just keep hunting them? We wiped out two nightclubs full of them tonight. How many can they possibly be considering they just started appearing and gathering?" Blade replied, "No that won't work either. We would be killing maybe two hundred a night but they are growing faster than that. We need a weapon that they don't think we can get at night to catch them all." he paused for several minutes as he continued to ponder. Finally, he said "We need the sun." Silence. Then Nightwing pointed out what he thought everyone else was thinking, "How are we going to get the sun out here in the middle of the night? Is that even possible?" Before Blade could answer, Batman cut in. "We could use Wayne Enterprise orbital mirror satellites to get a powerful concentrated beam to shine on the city. The only thing is, they would all have to be outside for that."

As they continued to ponder, they left the club. There were still several hours before sunrise so they continued their hunt, killing anywhere from single vampires to large groups they found in safe houses or wondering around. When if became clear that they were not going to find anymore because sunrise was too soon, they returned to the bat cave. When they got in, the three humans exhausted, Blade said to them, "You three make some of the best vampire hunters I've ever met and I know a few. Let me think on this today while I make more bullets and stakes. I'll have an answer before too long." They went to sleep and Blade went back to the workshop to make more bullets. He was surprised to see Fox sitting and looking at the chemicals and writing stuff down in a notebook. "Hello Blade. How goes the hunt? Did you find anything of interest?" Blade walked over and looked over the man's shoulder and said, "Yeah we did. We found out that an old enemy of mine is behind the vampire outbreak. Vlad Dracula of Transylvania actually." Fox froze and said incredulously, "You must be joking. He really exists?" "Uhuh. He sure does and he is here in Gotham City. He has a grand plan and we need to stop him. What are you working on, Mr. Fox?" Fox pulled out a vial with a bit of a smile and said, "This is a new serum I would like you to try. I made a copy of your old serum fairly easily and saw several things that would make it much better. Unless I'm mistaken, this will hold off the thirst for two weeks at least." Blade looked at him with a new respect. "I'll try this out when I shoot up tonight. Thanks, Mr. Fox." The man smiled excitedly, "That's not all Blade. I also found something that you will never believe. I may have found a cure for those who were bitten by vampires. Now hear me out," he said as Blade began to shake his head and chuckle. "I know it's a long shot but I think it may work. To be sure on hundred percent, I need some vampire blood. Can you get some for me?" Blade chuckled, his white fangs gleaming, "Sure Mr. Fox. I'll do what I can." "Thank you." said Fox as Blade went back to his bench to make more bullets and stakes.


	3. Chapter 3: The end of Draculaagain

As the sun was going down, Blade and Batman explained their plan and how it would work. Through the grapevine, Blade had put out that there was a party in the massive Gotham cemetery near the largest tombs. He said that it was Dracula's resurrection celebration and that the lord of Vampires himself would be there. As soon as they had confirmation that all the vampires in Gotham were there, or at least most of them, Lucius Fox and Alfred would position the satellites and burn them all up. The two younger heroes were silent and Nightwing said, "I think it's a pretty good plan. How much time do we have, Batman?" The Dark Knight looked at a digital clock on his desk and said, "Two hours. With any luck, it will be a quick night and there won't be many unnecessary delays by vampire escapes." Blade nodded and pointed our a few more things. "You have the weapons and training to do this but if we are to defeat Dracula swiftly, I will need all your helps. Any questions or concerns about tonight's mission?" Robin and Nightwing looked at each other before turning to the other two heroes and saying, "No we should be good." Blade grinned nice and big, showing his two perfect white fangs and saying, "Then lets get to it."

It was only a few minutes before midnight as the four heroes watched the proceedings from the roof of the mortuary building. Hundreds of vampires had already arrived and dozens more were trickling in every hour. Batman looked at Blade, "When she we fire her up, Blade? It's getting pretty late and they are beginning to slow down." The Daywalker peered at the mass below and said, "We could do it now. You said that all of Gotham would be covered so even if they are not all here, they will probably all be nearby." Batman switched on a com unit in his cowl and said, "Alfred, you and Lucius are a go." The other three heroes didn't hear the reply but it was obviously an affirmative. It didn't take long before the sky literally lit up as one beam after deafening screams that lasted but a moment. When they stopped, Blade leapt from the building, saying "Lets mop up any survivors before they get the chance to leave." From one to another they went, clearing sheds, tombs and maintenance buildings, killing the few vampires that they found. It took less than an hour and all four met back up at the main building as the satellite mirrors faced away from the city and back to there normal positions. "I think this may have worked, Blade. What do you think?" The tall man scratched his chin and was silent for a few minutes, his eyes hidden by his glasses and his mind wandering. "Blade. You okay?" asked the Dark Knight, tapping him on the shoulder. After a moment, Blade shook his head. "There are more out there. Not nearly as many but at least a few and Dracula is still alive."

Suddenly, a laugh rang out from one of the largest tombs and they whipped around to see what it was. On top of the tomb stood Dracula himself wearing a black suit and out of the tomb came several dozen vampires, all of which were leering at the four heroes. "It would seem that you have slowed my plans down considerably, Dampyre. Tell me, how is it that you came to this world to face me?" Blade and Batman leapt down and approached the lord of vampires upon his perch. "Why don't you tell me how you got here first." A look of wicked amusement crossed Dracula's pale face. "Got here? My dear Eric I did not GET here. I have been here all along." Blade shook his head, snarling "Impossible. How can you be in two places at once?" "Because technically, I am not in two places at once. You see I am not allowed in the Axis of Worlds. If I were to go in there, the unseen watchers would take me straight to Hell and pick my soul up on the way. The problem is, though I am in this world, your world and several others actually, I only have one soul." Blade stared levelly at the evil creature for several minutes before asking "How do you do it?" The vampire Lord leapt down and approached, his hands clasped together behind his back as he explained, "You see, God made every world and maintains them all by His will and His plan for everyone in them. He created the Axis of Worlds so that His angels would be able to get from one to the other on the errands. He also made it accessible for Satan to use and for his demons. Now in each of these worlds, there are a number people who exist in every world but only a very few have the knowledge that they do. I am one of those who do." Dracula began to pace in circles around Blade who was as stiff as a ramrod as he listened. "I made it into that special selection of individuals because of my heritage. You see, it is said the Judas who betrayed Jesus was the first Vampire. Whether this is true or not, I am not sure but I do know that the way he supposedly became one is the same way I did: I let the Devil take control of me as I fought the great wars that I did. The Evil One left me with a thirst for blood and took my soul with him but because he took my soul, he made me immortal and powerful beyond any human. Now this happened in not only your world, but many others. And because of my… kinship with Satan, he tells me what goes on in the other worlds. What do you think of that, my friends?"

The four heroes stood stock still, now surrounded by the vampires and with Dracula right in front of them. Blade was tense as a snake that was coiled to strike. After a moment, he answered "What I think is that it's time to send you back to your box, Vlad Dracula. No matter where you come from or how many worlds you are undead in, I'm going to make you all dead in this one and in mine."

Blade whipped out his sword faster than the eye could see and made a perfect crosscut towards Dracula's neck but the Lord of Vampires was fast as well and ducked, dodging back and taking off as he did. The other vampires moved in, their eyes yellow with wrath and fangs gleaming. Cutting his way through, Blade took off after the fleeing Dracula. Batman said, "Robin, Nightwing, take care of these vampires. Watch each others' backs. I'm going to help Blade." The Dark Knight leapt into a nearby tree and glided after the two figures who ran faster than humanly possible. Trying to foresee where they would be headed, he fell to the ground and sprinted after them, trying his best to keep them in his sight. The Daywalker was on Dracula's heels every step of the way. Long years of training had conditioned him to be faster even than most vampires. As he ran, he drew his pistol with silver hollow points and began to fire at Dracula's back in an attempt to slow him down by making him dodge. It barely effected the evil being though as he laughed and continued running. He began to yell over his shoulder at Blade, "To think - all the times you put me in the ground, all the other vampires you have killed - Decon Frost, Draconis, Soloman Negas, Jarid Nomac - all in your world where vampires are far more prevalent yet you cannot stop a vampire apocalypse here where is in only in its infancy. You are weak and out of your reckoning here, Dampyre." Suddenly, he leapt over the cemetery fence and ran towards an old building that was once one of Gotham's court houses. Blade was right behind him and Batman, who made a wild guess that that may have been where Dracula was heading. Seeing he was right, he used his grappling hook to make a speedy ascent one of the middle floors and waited in the shadows.

Dracula sped up the stairs of the old court house with Blade on his heels. After a long chase, they entered a large room, inside of which was a crypt and on its shut lid lay a sword. Dracula grabbed the weapon and turned just in time to block his opponent's blow. A dozen more followed which the Vampire Lord blocked with relative ease. They broke off, neither breathing very hard. "A Damascus blade. Very nice, Drac. Is that weapon as old as you are?" asked Blade as they began to circle each other. The count smiled. "Yes it is. It was made for me by a master smith out of meteor iron which he had gone through a very long process to make into fine steel. Do you like it, Day Walker?" Blade himself smiled back and said, "Why yes I do. I think ill take it with me when I leave you lying dead in this courthouse." They engaged again, slashing, chopping, blocking and parrying blows strong enough to break any normal steel. But like the count's weapon, Blade's Katana was made of Meteor steel as well and edged with silver. As they dueled, neither noticed a silent, dark shape enter the room. Batman watched as he gauged the two combatants. He knew that one wrong move could wind up killing Blade and leaving him alone with Dracula. Looking around, he noticed that the room had many weapons in it: swords and axes, daggers and crossbows. It was as if this place was set up as a personal armory dedicated to Dracula. Moving swiftly and silently as death, Batman picked up a long fencing saber. It was well made by a master sword smith. Batman unsheathed the blade with barely a whisper of steel on leather and immediately, all the old lessons of sword play that he had undergone before taking up his cowl came back to him. With an elegant and direct thrust, he moved in to impale the Lord of Vampires through his cold, dead heart. Some sixth sense warned the Vampire count just in time for him to dodge to the side. For less than an instant, surprise showed in Dracula's maroon eyes but soon it was replaced with a mixture of dark delight and harsh scorn for his two opponents. The two hunters circled their evil pray in order to try and engage him on both sides. As they did, the Dark Knight contacted his two young wards. "Robin, Nightwing how're you doing?" The breathless voice of Nightwing came back over the comms, "We killed most of them, Batman. We are using temperature gauges in our masks to track the rest down. How are you two?" Batman replied as he and Blade moved in. "I'll tell you in a minute." The clashes of steel upon steel rang throughout the entire building. Batman could not compete with the vampire's strength so he had to parry and redirect as oppose to block his enemy. The three combatants circled one another as they fought. Blade and Dracula moved so fast they Batman barely kept up, narrowly missing losing his head to the long curved blade of the count. With a sudden kick, the Lord of Vampires sent the caped crusader rolling across the floor. He leapt up and hesitated to reengage. His breath came in ragged gasps and his cape and suit had several shallow cuts where he narrowly missed being killed. He had to thing fast for a way to help in a way that would actually be effective for Blade. Looking around, all he saw were more and more weapons. And then he saw the crypt. He ran to it and opened the lid and looked inside. Linen lined the inside and a velvet cushion lay at the top for Dracula's head. His mind began to race as he formed a desperate plan. Drawing his grappling gun, he propelled himself to the shadows, dropping several smoke pellets as he did. Swing up above the haze, he heard the ringing stop and several curses floated up to him. Switching his cowl to inferred mode, Batman could see them. Blade was a stark white against the grays and blacks but Dracula was only just visible enough. Quickly but with no more sound than a bat leaving it's roost, the Dark Knight swung towards the count, whose back was turned. Expecting the same sixth sense to warn Dracula a second time, he was able to use his blade to parry the powerful swing as both his boots connected solidly with the Lord of Vampires, knocking him into his crypt. Suddenly, three stakes came out of the smoke. Two missed by fractions of an inch but the third pinned the count to the crypt by his right shoulder; his sword arm shoulder. The long fencing saber followed as Batman tried to pierce his heart with it but the count moved just enough to take it through the other shoulder and he kicked him away. Blade came in with a thrust, but was deflected as Dracula was able to flip the Damascus sword up and Blade too was kicked away. Just as Dracula was nearly free, three silver batterangs thudded into his body. Stunned he looked up as the smoke cleared. In front of him stood his four enemies now, all together against him. Silently, he accepted his fate and stood still as Batman threw one final silver edged batterang. With a thud, it struck the count's already dead heart. Blade moved in and cut his head from his shoulders. Silence reined as the it toppled to the floor. Pulling free both the stake and the sword, Blade cleaned them and handed the sword to Batman, saying "Keep it. You may need it in the future."

He himself took the Damascus blade and sheathed it. He then took the head of his mortal enemy and wrapped in in a rag before setting it upside down where it had been attached a moment before. That done, he shut and locked the crypt with chains and the four of them took it out of the courthouse and carried it to the peer. With yet more chains, they connected heavy weights to the casket and dropped it in the river where it sank to the bottom in the blink of an eye.

Back at the Batcave, Blade shook hands with his three friends, feeling an affection he felt for few other people. "Thank you for your help, Eric Brooks. It was a pleasure to meet you." said Batman. Blade smiled warmly and said, "The pleasures all mine, Bruce, Robin and Nightwing." The two younger heroes removed their masks and shook hands with the tall dark man. "Call me Dick. Richard Grayson is my name." said Nightwing. "Jason is mine. Jason Todd. It was a real pleasure, Eric."

Suddenly, a bright light blinded them all and Blade was gone, leaving the three of them looking at the spot where he had been standing just a moment before. Blade stood at the edge of the sparkling fountain, looking at the keeper of the Axis of Worlds. "You did well, Blade. Because of you, it will be years before they ever have to face a vampire uprising like the one your world is facing now. Now you can return to your world and continue your work." Blade nodded and looked at the fountain that lead to Gotham city and its world. With a sigh, he squared his shoulders and turned back towards his own world. Just before entering the fountain, he stopped and turned, saying "What was I doing back there again?" The Keeper smiled and said, "I believe you were hunting Draconis the Vampire Priest." Blade nodded. "Right. Now I remember." and he stepped through the fountain. Instantly, he found himself back in the nightclub, surrounded by snarling, glaring vampires. Though he knew he had already asked the question, he called out to the masses, "Where is Draconis the priest?"


End file.
